Tag Archives: Wollmeise

Brandywine Shawl is one of those patterns in my one-day-I-will-knit-this list. I coveted the pattern ever since I laid my eyes on it and was lucky enough to receive it as a gift from a swap I participated in ages ago, (thanks, Susan!) but just never found the drive to actually knit it.

I hand-dyed the yarn I used for this project, originally planning to use it for colourwork but I was itching to cast on a shawl in this yarn. The pattern is a gift from SusanFromAthens during a Sundara swap. 🙂

My original cast on date was actually the 12th of August 2011. Yes. So long ago. I was in the middle of Chart B, that much I remember, and I made the mistake of not marking my place in the chart. So when I dropped the project to work on something and then came back to it, I could not read my work! I had no idea where in the chart I was.

So nearly 3 years after that original cast on, I frogged what little progress I had and restarted the shawl. The years between had hopefully given me enough experience to know better than to rely on my own (failing) memory.

I did 12 repeats of Chart B since the skein is quite generous and I think I could have added one more repeat and still have leftover to contribute to my sock yarn blanket.

It was fun while it lasted but I am glad to finish this shawl. Seems like ages ago when I first had the desire to knit this complicated-looking shawl. I struggled with the i-cord bind off and even thought of doing just a regular stretchy version but it looked untidy and out of place. So I persevered until I got the hang of it, which was quite satisfying because now the shawl has a nice neat top edge.

Nope, I was not in London for iKnit Fandango. Luckily, I have friends who were there and were kind enough to indulge my yearning for yarn (like I do not already have enough to last me two lifetimes!) and play yarn mule. So, thank you, Mina and Mel for bringing me back these lovelies.

Okay, this was not from the market but I saw that Mina managed to get some of these when she posted on Instagram and I had to ask. I actually had four balls of these, two different colourways but someone started petting them and might have expressed desire to take them off my already overflowing stash. What can I say? I’m easy. And I love Lisa so much not to share the love. So she went home with two balls of another colourway. This is supposed to self-stripe in a Fair Isle colourway. I cannot wait to see how it works up! It looks like the balls are different colours, but the are the same dyelot. Maybe one is just wound up differently?

This was a pre-order from The Yarn Tree. I have Mina to thank for this skein. She tagged me on Instagram when the dyer offered the pre-order and because she knows me too well. The name of the colourway is Vincent and The Doctor, and, Mina, knowing how much a fan of Doctor Who I am, knew I would be interested. So I followed links, clicked here and there and voila, signed myself up for a skein of this beautiful colourway. It’s 75% merino, 25% nylon, 4-ply sock yarn, not sure how it knits up and what pattern to use for it yet, but I know it will be fantastic!

Now this skein is from iKnit Fandango! Mina chose this for me. This is Regenbogen in Pure. I asked her if she could pick up two skeins of Wollmeise Pure for me, different colours that I could knit up in stripes, and she made the decision for me. And I love her choices! The other skein, not pictured, is the Natural so nothing exciting to show you. I am now searching for a plain, striping top that I can knit up and have ready for cooler months in Dubai. Suggestions are welcome!

Oh and I have to tell you that Mina also shared with me a bunch of lovely, heady dried Lothian lavender! That would surely not have passed customs check at the post office so thank you again Mel for bringing to back to Dubai for me. I am going to put them in smaller packets and place them in my yarn bins, the wardrobe and even the car. My closet smells heavenly already and they have only been there for an hour or so!

Okay, enough from me. I realize I haven’t blogged anything in weeks. I do have stuff in draft but have not had time to finish them. I hope to fix that soon. Have a good week ahead!

My knitting this year has slowed down considerably although I feel like I am always knitting! It could partly be because the items I have finished so far are large pattern-heavy shawls. Not complaining, but wish I could tick more WIPs from the list. And don’t even get me started on my ever-changing Ravelry queue!

I’m glad to have finished this shawl, though. It’s Daybreak by Stephen West, back when he was just a normal knitwear designer and not this avant-garde, neon-eye-make-up-wearing, flower-pasting pixie. Not dissing, it’s entertaining but really takes focus away from the designs. Ah well, thank you, Stephen for these sensible designs from your early years.Read the rest of this entry →

Intricate, double-sided lace patterns have always intimidated me. Not least because they are usually charted and my brain does not translate those easily into working instructions. If it’s a short chart repeated multiple times, then maybe I would be able to memorize it but if it’s double-sided lace it’s not as easy. This is partly why I have started and stopped knitting Jared Flood’s Rock Island Shawl twice! The edging lace chart was just too complicated for me. It didn’t have rhyme or reason, as one other knitter said, to facilitate memorization of the 8-row chart.

At some point in March this year, I decided to give this another go. I’m glad I did because look at the finished shawl. Thanks, Eliza for modelling it for me! Gratuitous shot of the dessert display at The Lime Tree Cafe. You’re welcome!Read the rest of this entry →

When Joji asked for test knitters for her tunic design, I hesitated. I actually did. Not sure why. Maybe I was intimidated because up until that point, I have not knitted any of her gorgeous designs. She needed another knitter for the 38/40 size. Just perfect for me!

So the next step, after reading the draft pattern in its entirety, because of course you HAVE to read the entire pattern before casting on or else you might miss something crucial in the notes! Yes, I was totally being sarcastic there because I would have cast on rightaway if I had the yarn ready that very minute. But, alas, with the hundreds of fingering weight skeins in my stash, I had not enough of the same colourway to knit my Bello. Good thing I grabbed 12 skeins of that undyed Wollmeise Pure when it was on offer! I dyed three skeins to make sure I have enough for a me-sized tunic/pullover. Dyeing was fun! I love these colours and they are probably one of the best I have ever dyed, if I do say so myself.Read the rest of this entry →

I knew it was going to happen, it was only a matter of time. I had every intention of being monogamous to my current cardigan project, but it landed on Sleeve Island and it sort of took a bit of steam out of the entire experience. That, coupled with one of those “Oooh, shiny!” moments meant that I was winding up yet another skein of yarn to cast on a new project.

I swear it was a quickie. Just the right amount of distraction from the stockinette merry-go-round of the first cardigan sleeve. It’s also a test knit for Joji using my MCN DK. She made the prototype using the skein I sent her as a gift. To stay true to her design, I decided to use the same yarn base.

I was worried about how busy this colourway was going to be and that the cable detail may not show up well. I should not have worried. The yarn brought out the details just fine. I love the sprinkle of bright red across the hat, just enough to give it contrast.

I love the crown decreases! Although if you look closely you’ll see the spit where I knitted when I should have been purling. Doh. I love this hat. I hope Joji releases the pattern soon so you can all whip up your own Dubai Hats too!

Another quickie is this soft pink baby cardigan for a colleague’s baby girl. I made the 6-month size so that she can get more wear out of it. This would be perfect around winter in the UK when they travel there.
I made this just in the nick of time for the Q4 KAL over on the Irish Girlie Knits Group in Ravelry. I was feeling so bad about not participating in the KAL when I’m a co-moderator. Then again, there was no push needed to get this baby cardi done because it was such a lovely and quick knit. I used what’s left of the Crystal Palace Bunny Hop, one of the oldest yarn in my stash. It’s so soft and lovely to work with. I’d buy another bag in a heartbeat, if I weren’t trying to be good and knitting from stash right now.

That’s all the quickie projects for now. I’m back to finishing cardigans. A second Goodale in Sundara Yarn Sport Merino (Mint Julep) for the Sweater KAL, Ohlala by Joji in Wollmeise DK and Sundara DK Merino for her Fall KAL and a Serra in Tosh MCN Worsted.

I am not usually very good with KALs. Some people thrive with having time restrictions on their knitting, I used to be the same but then the “Ohhh shiny!” moments kick in and I must cast on all the projects. With more relaxed KALs however, it does make for an enjoyable experience.

So I have signed up for the KAL in Joji’s Ravelry group. This KAL is probably one of the largest I have ever participated in, in terms of the number of participants. I think last night we had over 250 participants already and more are signing up. I have decided to knit the Ohlala cardigan so it’s going into the General Cardigan category of the KAL.

This gives me the opportunity to use my much-coveted Wollmeise DK in Heavy Metal and contrast it with my Sundara DK Merino in Fading Leaves in the Fog. I am so pumped for this KAL that I even swatched twice! Yes, me, swatching twice. Who would have thought this was going to happen ever?

My first swatch was plain stockinette of each colour stacked one on top of the other. I got gause-ish, but then it was measured pre-blocking. I liked the way they look together but Bernie said I should do some more to see how they actually look when striped according to pattern.

Which brings us to swatch #2. Striping as per pattern. I love it! I’m only a bit worried about running out of the Heavy Metal, so if you have any of it lying around in your stash and are willing to part with it, let me know and I might be contacting you in around 2 months’ time.

Why I assumed I could start and finish a full-sized shawl in 4 days was beyond me!

Life dragged all my free time away and before I could re-focus, the deadline for the Q2 KAL in the Irishgirlieknits group was almost over. And it’s not good form to be missing on a KAL deadline if you’re a co-moderator. Bad, bad mod.

But nearly a month later, I have finished the shawl I intended to do for the KAL: my second Dancette. I test knitted the original Plucky two-colour version for Carrie almost two years ago to the day. I absolutely love that shawl but, no offense to all the beautiful two-colour shawls out there, I decided against doing two colours again. I have this skein of Wollmeise Twin in a beautiful deep purple-red colourway called Cassis. I got it from a swap with Shyma with my Campari Piccolo, a skein I won from The Loopy Ewe’s 3rd anniversary blog competition in 2009.

I have to whittle down the WIPs because I cannot find any free Hiya Hiya cables! Plus the house is a mess and I’d like to get it tidied up a bit before I get kicked out. So I had a quick look at my Ravelry project page and decided to move things around. I love lists. I work better with lists. Can’t trust my memory anymore like I used to, even when I have my Ravelry page to go back to, I prefer to have a list. It makes things simpler.

Patience and I are not very good friends. We’re acquaintances at best, but neither one never stays long enough for us to become buddies for life. Sometimes it comes organically, sometimes it’s forced. In the case of my Hitchhiker scarf, it was an organic union which I was truly amazed with.

I’m a terrible model of my own hand-knits, here let my niece do it. She does it way better than I ever could anyway!Read the rest of this entry →